In a remote Cambodian village, four-year-old Keara's laughter masked the turmoil he faced daily due to his cleft palate.

For his father, Saroeun, the distress truly set in when Keara expressed a heartfelt plea—a desire to fix his lip.

"My son asked me to take him to the city," Saroeun recounted, his voice tinged with concern. The cruelty Keara endured at the hands of other children, especially his older brother Soknar shared, was heartbreaking. "They call him 'Ar Cheb' and mistreat him," Soknar revealed, his anger subdued by a sense of helplessness.

Keara's plea to his mother, Yun Mao, pierced her heart. "I tear up when I see his face," she confessed, her voice heavy with emotion. Her attempts to reassure Keara that surgery would happen one day were shrouded in the harsh reality of thei

See Full Page